Visiting the Scarlet Mom
by Visenya Dayne
Summary: Set after the current Young Avengers arc. Mother is no longer a problem, Billy and Teddy's relationship is going as well as in the first runs, and Billy decides to take Tommy to Avengers Mansion and visit their Scarlet Mom. A few surprises wait for them. (guest starring the Uncanny Avengers)


**Disclaimer: everything you recognize is property of Marvel Comics.**

**AN: This is kind of silly, and more fluff than anything I've ever written. For once, I just got tired of all the angst (though some angst inevitably slipped in, but don't worry, you can barely see it) and decided to write this as a gift for a friend who can't wait to see something similar happen in the comics (to be honest, neither can I! Will it, though?). Oh, just to remind you: Billy, Teddy and Tommy are all 18 here.  
Ellie, this is for you ;)**

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They did it. They finally defeated Mother. More important, they managed to rescue Tommy and get everyone back to Earth in one piece. Upon their return from that crazy multiverse adventure, all Billy wanted was to run to his parents' apartment, apologize profusely for the absence and lack of communication and just get some sleep and spend the rest of his days cuddling with Teddy. That was three days ago. As per their agreement upon arrival, they met that day, after everybody had had the time to settle back into New York, in Loki's favorite local diner for milkshakes and hot dogs.

Afterwards, they said their goodbyes and, before Tommy could speed off to who knows where, Billy took him aside to suggest they go see Wanda, a visit long overdue. If they were honest with themselves, after all those months they still weren't entirely sure how to behave around her, but Billy was trying his best. He knew he should visit her more often, but at least he did that more frequently than Tommy, who had only dropped by once or twice after the whole incident with Doom and Cassie's death. So, with Teddy's help, he dragged his brother's skinny ass to Avengers mansion through the scenic route.

"I still don't know why we're doing this", Tommy sighed, adjusting his sunglasses while trying to control the urge to run ahead. "And why the snail pace? Teddy can fly, I can run; if you let either of us carry you, or if you just teleported us there, we'd be halfway through the visit already".

Billy rolled his eyes, and smiled at a group of kids playing with a Frisbee nearby. "Don't be such a brat. We're going the regular way so that you can learn some patience and I can make sure you'll behave when we get there. Plus, we've been gone for so long, and I really missed Central Park."

Teddy looked affectionately at his boyfriend and, squeezing his hand, added, "Why are you complaining, anyway? If we had gone your way we wouldn't be able to enjoy a warm afternoon and these delicious ice creams. You can't be complaining of that!"

But Tommy had stopped paying attention at that point, singing and banging his head to the sound of Sonata Arctica's "Wolf and Raven" on his iPod. Billy felt like slapping him, but just snatched his headphones and asked as calmly as possible.

"Just promise you'll be nice. I know it's not easy for us, but it's even harder for Wanda, with never having had the chance to raise her sons and everything. And if what I've read on the Avengers Yamblr tags is true, the past few months have been just as awful; she'll need all our support, you know."

"Fine, whatever, just let me enjoy my music so I can pretend you two aren't acting like sappy lovebirds the rest of the way there."

So of course Billy and Teddy made sure to say loving things to each other and be a sappy couple as much as possible within Tommy's eyesight.

They arrived at the Mansion. Upon entering it, they were greeted by voices shouting at each other. Exchanging surprised looks and hushed comments ("Oh my god, so that's how the Avengers behave when no one is looking?" "Give me your phone, we should film it to blackmail them later" "Are you insane? You want to give that psychopathic Canadian any more reason to want to kill us?!"), they entered the living room to find Rogue, Wasp and Sunfire so engaged in a disagreement about a new PR strategy to spread mutant love, or something of the kind, that they didn't even notice the new arrivals. Wolverine did, of course, and just sent a threatening glance their way while stabbing an apple with his claws before turning once again to watch the argument while he ate. Thor watched it all uncomprehendingly, and Havok, finally seeing the teenagers, went to them.

"Hi. You're the Young Avengers, right? Sorry about that, they sometimes just get so excited with the job that, you know", he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure. That's part of being in a team." Teddy replied congenially.

"We're not going to interrupt you for long, we're just here to see Wanda".

"Wanda?" Havok asked distractedly, glancing back at the newly raised voices on his back.

"Yeah, the Scarlet Witch. She's like, our mom", Billy explained, pointing at himself and Tommy, who was too busy having fun watching the older Avengers to even remember why they were there in the first place.

"Oh, Wanda, of course. Yeah, you two do look like her. And Pietro. Uh… Well, I think she's in her room. Second floor, to the left, just… just go knocking on the doors and you'll eventually find her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back and stop those three from jumping at each other's throats." Havok hurried away, leaving the teenage couple the task of dragging a protesting Tommy upstairs and away from that unexpected entertainment.

"You don't think coming here was such a waste of time anymore, now, do you?" Billy glanced pointedly at his brother.

"Ha, not as much, but why couldn't we just watch them a bit longer?"

"And risk their hostility turning against us? Besides, if fandom gossip is correct, Wanda and Rogue hate each other, so I doubt she'd be that happy seeing us creepily watching their disagreements."

"She seems to like grandpa Magneto well enough. Probably the sexy silver hair. Yeah, I think I'd be safe", Tommy winked suggestively. A second later, he exclaimed in irritation "Come on! How many doors are there in this place? Does this corridor never end?!"

"Why are you complaining? Did you ever imagine, a couple years ago, there was any chance of being invited to Avengers Mansion and given free rein to wander about? This place is amazing! Look at all these pictures!" Teddy stared all around them delighted, and Billy joined him. Their nerdgasm was interrupted as they turned a corner and the sound of muffled music reached their ears ("What is that horrible sound? That's even worse than the crap Noh Varr forced us to listen in his ship." "Shut up! That's Edith Piaf, one of the greatest performers ever." "And I can't believe you're actually complaining of Blues and Motown. What the hell is wrong with you?" "That's all too slow; I'd rather stick to my power metal."). Figuring it was probably coming from Wanda's room, they decided to follow the sound.

Stopping in front of a door near the end of that corridor, they knocked. Nothing. They knocked again and called her name. Still nothing. They glanced worriedly at each other. "It's probably just the loud song preventing her from hearing us. Right?" Billy was begging for reassurance, only to be met with worry on his companions' faces. Deciding it was worth a small breach of etiquette, Billy used his magic to unlock the door. Three pairs of eyes met a sight they wouldn't soon forget.

At first, it was like their brains refused to understand what was going on. The room was dark, with the curtains drawn, but you could still clearly see female legs wrapped around the very naked body of a man on top of her. Then they could also see the arms, torso and the faces, and when their brains finally registered what they were looking at, one of them screamed.

Years later they still couldn't say which of them had emitted that sound, but that's what finally made the people on the bed notice the horrified faces by the doorway. The next minutes went by in a blur. The two people hurriedly covered themselves with the bed sheets, just as Wolverine and Wasp, attracted by the scream, rushed to the door, which in turn made Wanda recover enough to send a hex to close it in the five shocked faces. Logan was smirking as he helped a happy Janet van Dyne lead the traumatized boys downstairs to a sofa.

"Wait, when did they even arrive here?" That was Rogue.

"When you were too busy arguing to notice. What the hell happened upstairs?" Havok demanded.

"Not much; they just caught their mother having sex with Steve." It was Janet's laughter that finally brought them back to the present.

"Oh. My. God." Teddy mumbled.

"iwanttounsee iwanttounsee iwanttounsee." Of course his stupid powers wouldn't work when he needed them the most.

For once, Tommy was speechless, staring fixed ahead at the wall. Another minute passed until Teddy, putting a comforting hand on his boyfriend's leg, tried to cheer him up. "Well, look at the bright side; at least we got to see Captain America's butt."

Billy tried to give him an indignant look but couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from lifting up in a smile. Suddenly, Tommy turned accusingly to Wolverine and Wasp and asked the one important question his brain could process. "How the f*** did you get there that fast whenittookusthreetimesaslong?"

"I'll forgive the language slip as a side-effect of your trauma; as to what I assume was your question, we just know the Mansion better than you." Janet answered, handing them glasses of water.

But Logan was confused. "What I'd really like to know is how I didn't smell what they were up to."

"Chaos magic, of course", answered Wanda as she entered the room with a blushing Steve Rogers in tow. Everyone froze, staring at the new arrivals with varying degrees of horror, curiosity, amusement, and mild annoyance. The uncomfortable silence stretched a bit longer, until Steve cleared his throat and asked, in an authoritative but still polite tone:

"If you'll excuse us, Wanda and I would like to talk to Wiccan, Speed and Hulkling". The Avengers reluctantly left the room, with Janet giving them both quick hugs before closing the door on her way out.

The two couples glanced awkwardly at each other while Tommy stared accusingly at the older two, who then grabbed two chairs and sat in front of the couch. "You are all obviously old enough to understand what you saw. Would you like to talk about it?" Wanda asked calmly. Inside, however, she was praying for them to feel embarrassed enough to just hurry away from the mansion and seek a friendly telepath to erase that afternoon from their minds. Frankly, she'd consider doing the same to her own mind if the risks weren't so great.

"Wha- whe- jus- HOW COULD YOU?!" Tommy had never looked so righteously offended.

"A lot has happened since you last–"

"Clearly!" He spat, interrupting Cap's patient account.

"Thomas!" Wanda exclaimed in her strict mother-voice. "We had no idea the three of you were stopping by today, and I'm pretty sure the door was closed."

"Yeah, about that… We did knock, but when you didn't answer we got worried something might have happened and..." A disconcerted Billy explained.

"Obviously, we shouldn't have done that, but the music was so loud you didn't listen when we called and – oh, now I see why the music was that loud." Teddy blushed, along with both adults.

"We'll definitely call in advance next time!" Billy hurriedly added, nodding for emphasis. Wanda smiled in thanks, as a slightly less awkward silence followed. Tommy once again was the one to reluctantly break it, still pouting.

"So, what exactly is this, then? Are you just, uh, having fun as consenting adults or is our family getting even weirder?"

Wanda and Steve exchanged anxious looks as she answered "Well, we- this is still so recent we haven't properly discussed -"

Steve interrupted, squeezing her knee affectionately, as he formally addressed the boys. "I assure you, son, I have the best of intentions with your mother", turning to her with a loving smile, he added "if she'll have me".

Wanda smiled back and answered, "How could I not?"

At that, Billy and Teddy couldn't contain themselves any longer and let out a high pitched noise as they jumped from the couch and excitedly hugged them.

"This is so cool! Captain America and the Scarlet Witch are a couple! How isn't that on the news already?" That was Teddy.

"This started just a few weeks ago, and we've been… careful" Cap explained.

"To be honest, you three were the first to find out, which is oddly fitting" Wanda reasoned, until they remembered just how that had happened only twenty minutes before and blushed as they tried to erase it from their minds.

"Teddy is right, this is awesome! I never thought Captain America would eventually be my daddy!" Billy joked excitedly, but when he saw a shadow cross the older man's face and Wanda rub comforting circles on his back, with a worried expression, he hurriedly added "I'm sorry if that was inappropriate, I just…"

"It's okay, son. It would be my honor." Steve smiled, but there was still some sadness in his expression.

They talked a few more minutes, and as the older Avengers accompanied their visitors to the door, Wanda took Thomas to the side and asked, concerned, "Tommy? You are too quiet. How do you feel about all of this?"

He looked around, making sure the others were out of earshot and answered, for once completely honest, "It will just take some getting used to, I guess. You know I'm not good with feelings and stuff, but you seem happier now than I've ever seen you. If he makes you happy, I'm happy too." Wanda hugged him, tears in her eyes, whispering her thanks to his hair.

When they were a safe distance away from the Mansion, Teddy turned conspiratorially to Billy and confessed. "Don't hate me, but I think I have a new OTP."

Billy smiled, agreeing. "Me too, but wasn't I supposed to feel more awkward about shipping my mother and Captain America?"

"What's the matter with you?! Even now you two can't stop being fanboys? Don't you see how creepy it is that a 90-year-old guy in star-spangled costume is sleeping with our mother?!" Yep, Tommy was back to his old self.

"Well, he doesn't look older than 40." Teddy reasoned.

"You know what should be interesting? When Pietro and Magneto learn about this. Oh, I'd like to be there to watch it!" Billy exclaimed.

"I wouldn't; someone will probably get killed or beaten up when that happens. Good thing we don't spend the holidays together." Tommy exhaled, relieved.

"Gee, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I ran into Magneto the other day and he told me he was thinking of doing some family thing on Hanukkah with everyone and-" But Tommy had crossed the state border before he could finish, leaving Teddy and Billy free to fanboy over everything that happened that day as they crossed Central Park back home.

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**AN2: Yeah, this is post-Dimension Z Cap; the feels just rushed into the story before I could contain them. As you could see, Wonder Man doesn't appear because it would be too hard to keep the tone I chose for this with him around. Let's just say he was away at California shooting a film when this happened. I love all the genres and artists I mentioned here, but it really seems to me that the frantic rhythm of Sonata Arctica's earlier albums is something a speedster would enjoy, though the melancholy in the songs probably fits Pietro better than Tommy. And the temptation of having Wanda and Steve make love while listening to Edith Piaf was too strong to resist, I had to!**


End file.
